The Journey Home
by iwasnthere622
Summary: Zelos crash-landed at the Otherwordly Gate on a new moon and is sucked to a whole new world. Riku was taking a breather on the beach of the Destiny Islands when a man fell from the sky. Can they get Zelos home?  Happy Birthday Cami! Rated for language.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMI! :D Darkness-Chill on here, go wish her happy birthday!

So this is her birthday fic featuring her favorite characters from Tales of Symphonia and Kingdom Hearts: Zelos and Riku.

This kinda... exploded a bit, so it's going to be multi-chapter! This semester plans to be crazy so who knows when the next chapter will be up, but Happy Birthday, Cami! I'm glad you liked it! (Yes she got to read it first, she's the birthday girl!)

I don't own KH/TOS.

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><p>Zelos laughed, stumbling out of the casino. "Well, my hunnies, I take my leave of you!"<p>

The redhead giggled, bowing deeply and stumbling as he almost fell over before righting himself with a huge grin on his face.

"It's been a ple-plea-pleasure." He hiccupped out. Two girls dressed in the bunny suits of Altamira stood at the entrance watching him and giggling.

"Zelos!" One whined. "Don't leave yet! We haven't played strip poker yet!"

"I can't, I can't, I have to go back to my mansion!" Zelos insisted.

"Zelos. Stay." The other purred.

Zelos laughed. "It'd be cheating if we played since I've already seen you both without clothes on!"

The two girls blushed and giggled.

"My hunnies, farewell. Pine for me not – I shall return soon!" Zelos' dramatic exit was ruined a bit by his wavering step as he turned and headed for the city entrance, obviously drunk. He whistled to himself as he stumbled out of Altamira, grinning like an idiot as he withdrew his wing pack and got out his bright purple Rheaird. He climbed on and started it, laughing as it vibrated between his legs.

"Ah, you happy to see me too, hunny?" He asked, petting the machine for a moment before taking off out into the sky. The Rheaird flew haphazardly, swerving and rising and falling as Zelos laughed and threw his head back, red hair trailing behind him in the wind, his pink jacket fluttering.

"I am the great Zelos Wilder!" He declared, letting go and throwing his hands up in the air. The Rheaird tilted dangerously, heading for the ground fast, and Zelos screeched, grabbing onto it once more, managing to crash land onto a beach without breaking anything. Breathlessly, he climbed off the smoking Rheaird and collapsed into the sand, laughing at the thrill. Pushing up on his elbows, he looked around, confused as to how he had gotten back to Altamira's beach. He stood up wobbly and turned around slowly, seeing weird rocks jutting up a few yards away which were glowing a faint blue.

"I remember this! I was here before! Oooh, wonder what it does now?" Zelos said aloud, clapping his hands together in drunken excitement before rushing towards the rocks. He looked up at the night sky, pouting as he saw it was not a full moon – there was no moon in the sky at all. He plopped down into the sand with a thud, running it between his fingers in fascination. Suddenly, the light grew brighter and brighter and Zelos looked up, confused.

"What the - whoa!" He yelled, the bottom dropping out from under him. Suddenly, he was falling through the gateway that had opened beneath him. He flailed wildly, yelling, before the darkness completely overtook him and he was gone, his Rheaird still smoking on the beach as the light faded and the Otherwordly Gate stood tall and silent once more.

[OMGTHISISALINE]

Riku closed his eyes. He was lying on the beach of the Destiny Islands, a place he'd lost hope in ever seeing again. His arms were crossed under his head for support, and he took a deep breath, inhaling the ocean spray, before opening his eyes again and gazing up at the stars. The night was a clear one, and for once, he was alone. Sora and Kairi had passed out, no doubt from the excitement of being all reunited and home once more. Riku had been unable to sleep, however, so he wound up here, staring at the sky.

Suddenly, clouds rapidly rolled in, covering the sky. Riku sat up, looking around and frowning. What was happening…?

He heard a shout and jumped to his feet just as something came plummeting out of the clouds. It landed in the sand a few yards from Riku with a hoarse shout. Riku summoned his keyblade, warily eyeing whatever it was that had fallen from the sky, noticing out of the corner of his eyes that the clouds were disappearing as quickly as they had come.

"Aghh, owww." Zelos groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head.

A man? Riku crossed to him and placed the tip of his blade under his chin.

"Who are you and why did you fall from the sky?" Riku asked coldly.

Zelos froze, slowly lifting his gaze to the man standing before him. The guy had silver hair much like his old traveling companions Raine and Genis Sage, although his was longer, fluttering in his face. His eyes were a weird green and blue blend, matching the color of the fickle sea. His voice was cold and held authority and was that a… key being held to his neck?

"This isn't real." Zelos stated.

Riku cocked his head.

"I passed out on the beach. No way this is real." Zelos said.

"I can assure you that this is real – now, tell me how you came here." Riku demanded, putting a little more pressure on his blade, making the redhead before him wince. The man had deep blue eyes, almost like Sora's but filled with more pain, more experience than ever shown in his best friend's eyes. His red hair flitted about his face in the breeze, and his pink jacket was in tatters around him.

"Okay, since I don't feel like getting stabbed, the name's Zelos. I'm from Meltokio. I was in Altamira that way", Zelos pointed left, then frowned, shaking his head and pointing right, "and I crashed at the Otherwordly Gate which sent me here. I think. Or I passed out, which is much more likely." The redhead explained.

"Meltokio? Altamira? Otherwordly Gate? I have heard of none of these places…" Riku said, undecided as whether this Zelos was an enemy or not. Just because he hadn't heard of the places didn't mean they weren't real – there were hundreds of worlds out there. But…

"Explain how you got here without a gummi ship." Riku demanded.

"Gummi… ship? I don't know what that is. Like I said, I was flying my Rheaird and crashed into the Gate, which pulled me here, although that shouldn't be possible since it only works on full moons. Did I mention I was drunk? Am drunk?" Zelos frowned. "Can you be drunk in your hallucinations caused from passing out due to alcohol consumption?" He wondered aloud.

Riku shook his head and stepped back, letting his keyblade disappear and offering his hand to the redhead. "I don't know how you got here, but welcome to the Destiny Islands. I'm Riku."

Zelos took the offered hand, stumbling a bit as he was pulled to his feet. "How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Make your key thing disappear." Zelos said. Not that he found fighting with a giant key particularly weird. Hell, he'd seen Lloyd kick ass with paper fans, once.

"It's a keyblade. As one of the keyblade wielders, I can summon or send it away at will." Riku explained.

Zelos frowned, but nodded. "I wonder if Sheena can do that…"

"Sheena?"

"My friend. A summoner."

"Your friend summons things? That sounds like… unique magic."

"Yeah, she's one of a kind. Where'd you say I am again?" Zelos asked, looking around the beach at the palm trees and weird star-shaped fruit hanging off them.

"Destiny Islands. What's the name of your world?" Riku asked.

"World? Ah, shit, I'm on another world? Not again! Don't tell me Mithos split this one, too?" Zelos said in frustration, running his gloved fingers through his tangled mane.

"I don't know who this Mithos is, but this world wasn't split. This is one of the few worlds fully repaired after the attempt of the darkness the take over." Riku explained.

Zelos frowned some more, deciding he'd better just shut up and agree with the silverette beside him for now.

"You've yet to tell me your world." Riku said wryly.

"Right. Sorry. Bit confused at the moment. I'm from Tethe'alla." Zelos answered.

Riku nodded. "I understand why you're confused. From what I can gather, you were flying when you accidentally went through one of the doors connecting the worlds, ending up here."

Zelos nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's actually pretty close to what happened."

Riku frowned. "I've never heard of the world Tethe'alla, though. Tomorrow, I'll take you to see King Mickey. He'll be able to help you get home."

Zelos studied Riku. "Are you sure I'm not passed out on the beach?"

Riku smacked him, and the redhead yelped, glaring. "Yup. I'm sure."

Zelos grumbled before reluctantly nodding. "Oh, man, is Raine gonna be pissed when I get back and tell her about this!"

"Raine?"

"The Professor. She studies, like, everything. She's gonna kill me for getting here without her."

Riku chuckled, shaking his head.

"Hey, it's late here, too, right? What're you doing on the beach?" Zelos asked, curious.

"Just taking a few moments for myself." Riku answered shortly.

"I… see." Zelos said, before yawning.

Riku jerked his shoulder, before turning and heading off the beach. "You coming? Zelos?"

"Yeah. Riku." Zelos answered, following him.

They walked in silence for several minutes before suddenly before them a dozen… things just swirled up from the shadows.

"Whoa! What the hell?" Zelos yelled.

Riku growled, summoning his keyblade. "Damn. Still haven't gotten them all. Just stay behind me." With that, he charged into battle, slashing at the heartless. Every slash of his blade caused heartless to disappear into smoke, but more kept crawling up from the darkness.

Shaking off his shock, Zelos drew his blade, slashing and fighting side by side with Riku.

With the two fighting together, the heartless group that had attacked them was quickly dispensed and Riku let his keyblade disappear once more as Zelos sheathed his sword.

"You surprise me. You fight well." Riku said, reappraising the redhead next to him.

"Of course. Gotta be able to fight monsters if you're gonna travel like I do." Zelos answered. "By the way, what the hell kind of monsters were those? I've never seen them before."

"Monsters?" Riku said, shaking his head. "I guess you could call them monsters… They were heartless."

"Heart…less?"

"Yes; they are hearts of darkness who search for the darkness in all hearts. No, that's not quite it… It's fairly complicated – basically, they're evil. I like your term: monsters. Just always kill them." Riku said.

Zelos nodded, confused but perfectly content to kill now and ask questions later.

"Right, well. Let's head to my place before we get attacked again." Riku said, resuming the walk to his house.

Zelos nodded, tiredly following him. He wondered if anyone knew he was missing yet, and if they'd look for him when they eventually did discover his absence. Hopefully this King Mickey guy could get him home before that happened…

[OMGTHISISALINE]

Sunlight streamed in through the windows and fell across the face of the redhead sprawled out on the couch.

Zelos groaned, pulling the pillow tight over his eyes. Already, he had a decent headache building behind his eyes. Between the throbbing and the brightness of the room, there was no way he was going back to sleep.

Slowly, he sat up, balled fists pressed tightly to his eyes. Managing to concentrate and block the pounding his head, he muttered, "First Aid." Instantly, blue light engulfed him and he sighed, the pain dulling.

Able to open his eyes now, he stood and stretched, grabbing his sword from where he had stood it next to the couch and sheathing it in his scabbard.

He turned and glanced out the windows, doing a double take and gasping. The windows provided the perfect view of the sun rising above the ocean, the rays sparkling across the water as the waves gently lapped at the white sand. It was a beautiful sight and had Zelos thinking how lucky Riku had it here on this peaceful little island.

Walking out of the living room and down the hall, he guessed at which room was Riku's bedroom and was pleased when he was right. Lying curled in a ball on his bed, blankets tangled around him, the silverette was sound asleep.

Striding over to him Zelos poked his shoulder. "Riku?"  
>Growling, Riku shot up, twisting Zelos's wrist almost to the point of breaking it.<p>

"Whoa! What the hell?" Zelos yelled, trying to pull out of the grip and wincing.

Slowly, Riku let go. "Reflex. Sorry."

"Reflex? Damn." Zelos glared, pulling his wrist to his body, rubbing it with his other hand. "It's a reflex to be violent?"

Riku's gaze hardened. "It's a reflex to defend myself."

Zelos stiffened. "I wasn't doing anything – I was just trying to wake you up!"

Riku sighed, running his fingers through his tangled hair and wincing. "I know, I'm sorry. Not a morning person, okay?"

"Okay." Zelos muttered, looking over his wrist. "Damn, this is going to bruise. First Aid." Blue light surrounded his wrist and the bruising faded, as well as the pain.

"First Aid?" Riku questioned curiously.

"Yeah, a healing spell. You guys don't have them?" Zelos asked.

"No, we do. They just aren't called that. We have a spell called Cura, and a stronger spell Curaga. We also have potions and hi-potions." Riku explained, managing to untangle himself from his bed.

Zelos nodded. "Yeah, we've got potions back home, too, but gels are mostly used for healing."

"Gels?" Riku asked, standing and stretching.

"Yeah, they're like these small flavored gummi things that heal wounds." Zelos explained.

"Hm." Riku frowned, trying to picture it but only being able to visualize mini gummi ships that you ate.

"So, anyway… Can we get going to this King Mickey guy? I kinda wanna get back home before someone notices I'm gone." Zelos said.

"Right. Just give me a minute to get dressed and we'll leave." Riku said, crossing to his dresser.

"Ah, right." Zelos said, finally noticing he was only wearing boxers and leaving the room so he could change. He wandered back into the living room and stared out at the water. Tethe'alla had oceans. Hell, Sylvarant had oceans. But this ocean… it was so much bluer, clearer. It was definitely a sight to behold.

"All set. I just have to tell my friends I'm leaving." Riku said, joining him.

Zelos nodded. "Okay."

Riku led him out of the house and towards another not too far away. After finding out his friends were down at the beach, the pair headed in that direction.

"Riku!" A brown haired boy yelled, grinning and waving from where he was splashing in the water with a redheaded girl.

"Want me to just wait here?" Zelos asked awkwardly.

"It's fine – Sora and Kairi know there are other worlds. We've been to quite a few." Riku said, leading him over to his friends.

"You guys travel to other worlds? What are they like?" Zelos asked. Sure, he'd been to Sylvarant. But it was pretty similar to Tethe'alla, just a little most destitute.

Riku chuckled. "I'll tell you on the ride. Hey, Sora. Kairi."

Kairi smiled. "Hi, Riku. Who's this?"

"I'm Zelos." Zelos said.

"He landed on the beach last night. He's from Tethe'alla. You guys ever hear of that world?" Riku asked.

Sora shook his head. "I've never heard of it, but you heard King Mickey – there's hundreds of worlds out there! I'm Sora! It's nice to meet you! Wanna play in the water?"

Zelos chuckled. "Thanks, but I really just wanna go home."

Kairi nodded. "I know what you mean – this world might be great but it's not home, right?"

Zelos nodded. "Exactly."

She smiled. "Have a safe trip. I'm sure Riku will get you home."

"I'm taking him to the King to try to find his world." Riku said.

"I thought we were going to go diving today!" Sora protested.

"Sorry, Sora. Tomorrow, okay?" Riku smiled.

"Okay. If you see Donald or Goofy, tell them hi from me! I hope you get home soon, Zelos. You seem really nice – your heart is strong. C'mon, Kairi, let's swim!" Sora grinned, racing into the water.

"Nice to meet you, Zelos! Riku will take care of you! See you later!" Kairi giggled, racing after the brunette.

"Are they always like that?" Zelos asked.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Pretty much. Sora still acts like a little kid. You wouldn't know it looking at him, but he's a really strong fighter – he's saved a lot of worlds – a lot of people – from the darkness."

Zelos scrutinized the young boy in the water, finding it hard to believe he was as strong as that. Then again, Lloyd didn't look like anything special and could kick major ass…

"C'mon, let's go." Riku said, turning away from his friends and leading Zelos up away from the beach. They walked around the island and crossed a small wooden bridge, heading to another island covered mainly in rocky outcroppings and caves. On the other side, they came to a dock where the gummi ship was waiting.

"Whoa! It's like an EC but way bigger!" Zelos exclaimed.

"It's a gummi ship. Weren't you flying on one when you found the door to this world?" Riku asked.

Zelos shook his head. "Nah, I was on my Rheaird, which is much smaller. Kinda like a stand with wings that flies in the air."

Riku looked at him skeptically. "Do all the people in your world have them?"

"No, just me and my friends. It's a technology Cruxis developed and we kinda stole it from them through Yuan. It's a long story." Zelos tried to explain.

"Well, this is what lets us get between worlds. Come on aboard and we'll go to Disney Castle." Riku said, deciding to just ignore Zelos's poor explanation.

"Right." Zelos said, following Riku up the ramp and onto the ship. The pair headed to the controls and Riku sat down in front of them, starting it up. "Have a seat. The ride isn't too long."

Zelos had just sat down when Riku launched the ship into the air and headed in the direction of Disney Castle.

[OMGTHISISALINE]

"Wait, the whole world is under water?" Zelos asked.

Riku chuckled and nodded.

"How do you breathe?" Zelos asked.

"Well, the natural inhabitants of the world are all creatures who can breathe underwater – mermaids, mermen, all kinds of fish. Whenever anyone from another world goes there, the magic of that world shifts their form to match that of the world. So, like when Sora went there? His legs turned into a fish tail and he became a merman." Riku explained.

"Wow." Zelos said, awed. "You know, no one back home is going to believe any of this."

Riku laughed again. "I doubt they will. But I promise I'm not lying."

"I believe you – I mean, I kind of have to at this point since I'm stuck here until you manage to get me back." Zelos said with a grin.

"Speaking of, there's the Castle." Riku said, preparing the ship to dock.

"The Pope would definitely be jealous of this place." Zelos commented, studying the tall spires.

"Pope?" Riku questioned, docking the ship.

"One of the leaders of my world. We have a castle, too, and this one is at least five times larger." Zelos explained.

Riku nodded. "That makes sense. You're world may have leaders, but King Mickey is the leader of all worlds, whether or not they know of him. He's everyone's protector."

"Must be a big job." Zelos muttered.

"He's good at it. Let's go." Riku said.

The pair left the ship and Riku led Zelos into the castle.


End file.
